Hand Sanitizer Celebrates Its Golden Anniversary

The nursing student was searching for a formula that could provide near instantaneous cleansing of an environment where there is no time to find a sink and wash with soap and warm water. The young aspiring RN knew that such a solution could be a lifeline for hospitals and doctor’s office, where 24/7, non-stop caring for sick patients and residents left a revolving door for harmful contagions to fester and spread.

Through her studies, Hernandez learned that cleaning alcohol can be delivered via a gel, enabling the quick cleansing of hands without soap and water. Realizing the potential of her discovery, Lupe called an invention hotline she had learned about on television and registered the patent.

The mother of modern hand sanitizer (Goldie and Jerry Lippman conceived the fundamental idea of hand sanitizer in the 1940s) could not have foreseen the global impact her revolutionary invention would have on billions of the Earth’s people. As the healthcare community notes the 50th anniversary of Hernandez’s breakthrough this year, hand sanitizer is helping safeguard more people than ever from the harmful effects of contagious pathogens.

A staple in all American healthcare centers, schools and almost all American homes, hand sanitizer wipes out over 99.9 percent of micro-organisms on hands. The Centers For Disease Control has verified hand sanitizers’ remarkable ability to remove microbes from hands.

As the Guardian’s Laura Barton writes, hand sanitizer “has become a handbag must-have, a public transportation companion, a desk-mate in the office and seemingly invaluable for mothers wiping down sticky toddlers.”